The 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international cricket tournament played in India from 1 to 13 January 1978. Hosted by India for the first time, it was the second edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, after the inaugural 1973 World Cup in England.
| Dates | 1 – 13 January 1978 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | International Women's Cricket Council |
| Cricket format | Women's One Day International (50-over) |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin |
| Host(s) |  India |
| Champions |  Australia (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  England |
| Participants | 4 |
| Matches | 6 |
| Most runs | Margaret Jennings (127) |
| Most wickets | Sharyn Hill (7) |
It was originally proposed that South Africa host the World Cup, but this was abandoned to conform with the Apartheid-era sporting boycott of the country. The Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) then made a successful bid, and served as the primary organiser, with the International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) providing only limited oversight.[1] Along with India, which was making its debut, five other teams were originally invited – Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the West Indies. The Netherlands and the West Indies, which had both not previously participated, were forced to withdraw due to financial issues.[2][3] The four teams that did compete (the lowest number in the tournament's history) played a round-robin tournament of three matches each, with Australia going undefeated to claim its first title. Australia's captain, Margaret Jennings, led the tournament in runs, while her teammate, Sharyn Hill, led the tournament in wickets. Three of the five highest scorers as well as three of the five leading wicket-takers in the tournament were from Australia. Sharon Tredrea featured in both lists, being the second-highest wicket-taker and fourth-highest scorer of the tournament.[4][5]
Squads
editInformation is only available for players who played at least one match at the tournament.
| Australia[6]
|
England[7]
|
India[8]
|
 New Zealand[9]
|
|---|---|---|---|
Venues
edit
- Eden Gardens, Calcutta – one match
- Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur – one match
- Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad – two matches
- Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, Patna – two matches
Warm-up matches
editAt least five warm-up matches were played against various local Indian teams, all but one of which came before the tournament.[10]
Group stage
editPoints table
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | RR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.264 |
| 2 | England
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2.657 |
| 3 | New Zealand
|
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.777 |
| 4 | India
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.988 |
- Note: run rate was to be used as a tiebreaker in the case of teams finishing on an equal number of points, rather than net run rate (as is now common).[11]
Matches
editNew Zealand vs Australia
edit 1 January
Scorecard |
v
|
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- Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
- Peta Verco, Sharyn Hill (Aus), Cheryl Henshilwood, Edna Ryan, Pat Carrick, Sheree Harris, Vicki Burtt and Viv Sexton (NZ) all made their WODI debuts.
India vs England
edit 1 January
Scorecard |
v
|
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- England won the toss and elected to bowl.
- Anjali Sharma, Diana Edulji, Fowzieh Khalili, Gargi Banerjee, Kalpan Paropkari, Lopamudra Bhattacharji, Nilima Jogalekar, Runa Basu, Sandhya Mazumdar, Sharmila Chakraborty, Shobha Pandit (Ind) and Catherine Mowat (Eng) all made their WODI debuts.
New Zealand vs India
edit 5 January
Scorecard |
v
|
||
- India won the toss and elected to bat.
- Shubhangi Kulkarni, Sudha Shah, Susan Itticheria, Ujwala Nikam (Ind) and Linda Lindsay (NZ) all made their WODI debuts.
India vs Australia
edit 8 January
Scorecard |
v
|
||
- India won the toss and elected to bowl.
- Rajeshwari Dholakia (Ind) made her WODI debut.
New Zealand vs England
edit 8 January
Scorecard |
v
|
||
- England won the toss and elected to bowl.
- Karen Hadlee (NZ) made her WODI debut.
England vs Australia
editBoth Australia and England went into the last match of the tournament undefeated, which meant it functioned as a de facto final, akin to the Uruguay v Brazil match at the 1950 Football World Cup.[2] England's Megan Lear later recounted that the "most memorable part of [the] tournament was playing in front of crowds of 40,000 plus".[12]
Statistics
editMost runs
editThe top five runscorers are included in this table, ranked by runs scored and then by batting average.
| Player | Team | Runs | Inns | Avg | Highest | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret Jennings | Australia |
127 | 3 | 63.50 | 57* | 0 | 1 |
| Barbara Bevege | New Zealand |
126 | 3 | 63.00 | 67* | 0 | 2 |
| Lynne Thomas | England |
109 | 3 | 54.50 | 47 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharon Tredrea | Australia |
87 | 2 | 43.50 | 56 | 0 | 1 |
| Wendy Hills | Australia |
66 | 3 | 22.00 | 64 | 0 | 1 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo CricketArchive
Most wickets
editThe top five wicket takers are listed in this table, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average.
| Player | Team | Overs | Wkts | Ave | SR | Econ | BBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharyn Hill | Australia |
30.0 | 7 | 7.57 | 25.71 | 1.76 | 3/16 |
| Sharon Tredrea | Australia |
25.0 | 6 | 7.00 | 25.00 | 1.68 | 4/25 |
| Pat Carrick | New Zealand |
29.0 | 6 | 17.66 | 29.00 | 3.65 | 3/43 |
| Glynis Hullah | England |
21.1 | 5 | 6.80 | 25.40 | 1.60 | 2/2 |
| Peta Verco | Australia |
23.0 | 5 | 7.40 | 27.60 | 1.60 | 3/9 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo
References
edit- ^ Velija, Philippa (2015). Women's Cricket and Global Processes: The Emergence and Development of Women's Cricket as a Global Game. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 99. ISBN 9781137323538.
- ^ a b Abhishek Mukherjee (15 January 2014). "Australia Women lift 1978 World Cup — the tournament which was almost called off" – CricketCountry. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ^ "Quick, quick Snow". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by runs) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ^ Women's World Cup 1977/78 (ordered by wickets) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ^ Batting and fielding for Australia women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Batting and fielding for England women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Batting and fielding for India women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Batting and fielding for New Zealand women, Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Women's World Cup 1977/78 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ Shell Bicentennial Women's World Cup 1988/89 table – CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ (5 March 2009). "'Our laundry laid out to dry on the rocks'" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 August 2015.